December 28, 2012

The Morning Wrap

On the brink: The White House and Congress are inching ever closer to the so-called "fiscal cliff." From today'sNew York Times: "A meeting at the White House between President Obama and Congressional leaders scheduled for Friday offered either the promise that a resolution of the fiscal debacle was in view or a portentous sign that each side was doing all it could to make sure that it could escape blame for a potential fiscal meltdown. No one was quite sure which." The Washington Post has coverage here. Today in Politico, this piece: "Why they want to go over the cliff."

Moving, but not leaving: Ronald Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, is leaving the city to return to his house in suburban Maryland. But Machen tells The Washington Post he has no intention to ditch his gig as the top federal prosecutor here. “The work we’re doing here is too important to abandon,” Machen said.

Spotlight on religious liberty: Stanford Law School has started a religious liberty law clinic, which administrators hail as the first in the country, The National Law Journal reports. The clinic's leaders said clients include a Florida prisoner who can't obtain a circumcision while incarcerated and a Muslim group facing opposition over the construction of a mosque in California.

Genuine confession?The New York Times, in partnership with The Texas Tribune, has this story today: "1980 Murder Confession Raises Calls to Require Police to Record Interrogations."

Charged again A police chief in suburban Chicago for the second time in nearly three has been arrested on a charge of drunk-driving. The town's leaders didn't take any substantial action after the first DUI case. "He had a clean record and it was a first offense," one former official said. "We considered it a very minor problem actually. Nobody was hurt, and he had a spotless record."

Finally: Public transportation riders in the District have long been able to use mobile applications to check train and bus arrivals. Now, New York City is joining the game. Well, at least for seven of the city's 24 subway lines.